Comments on the Cobirds thread about timberline wanderers, that
started with the Loggerhead Shrike.
A variety of species migrate vertically up to or near timberline
each August. Many of us have observed Swainson's Hawks and Prairie Falcons, and
I remember watching harriers (and Barn Swallows) migrate over Guanella Pass (in
early September). We see more Mountain Bluebirds up high in August than the
number that breeds at timberline; both White-throated and Black Swifts cruise
far above timberline; and hummingbirds often venture into the alpine flower
fields.
While I haven't encountered a shrike in the alpine zone, I do
remember a rather surprising clutch of a couple of Pygmy Nuthatches. Others on
my list: American Dipper at 12,000 feet in the San Juan Grenadier Mtns.; Pinyon
Jays at 13,000 feet on Mt. Meeker and Clark's Nutcracker at 14,000 feet on Mt.
Harvard; and at varying locations from timberline to 12,000 feet, Cooper's
Hawk, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Green-tailed Towhee, flocks of Chipping Sparrows,
Gray-headed Juncos, and Franklin's Gulls; Baird's Sandpipers in migration at
Fish Lake (12,000') in the South San Juans.
Hugh Kingery
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